Married At First Sight (MAFS) 2025 relationship expert John Aiken isn’t afraid to get stuck into the brides and grooms when he doesn’t agree with their views.
During an interview with Chattr, the relationship specialist said that he feels it’s his “responsibility” to point out questionable behaviour in the relationships we see on the controversial show.
“Over the last three seasons, I’ve become more direct,” John said ahead of the 2024 season. “You’re in a privileged position where you can give them really hard-hitting feedback in a short amount of time, in the hope that it lands and it changes.”
“You really have a responsibility as an expert to call out bad behaviour and make them accountable.”
So, it appears to go without saying that John will be giving the MAFS 2025 cast some hard truths.
John Aiken says many of the MAFS participants haven’t been called out before
John believes that a lot of the participants haven’t experienced being told that they’re doing things wrong before, and he thinks that his honest assessments of their relationship help them.
“I’m of the opinion now that a lot of the time, they [the participants have] never heard anything like that. They’ve grown up in families, around friendships, who are basically saying yes, so I’m one of the first people that say no, and I find that very exciting.”
According to Daily Mail Australia, MAFS 2025 bride Jamie Marinos is the “Queen of drama”, so we can’t wait to see how she takes John’s blunt advice.
John Aiken finds the opportunity to give the participants honest feedback exciting
As one of the three MAFS 2025 experts, alongside Mel Schilling and Alessandra Rampolla, John feels honoured to be able to give the participants honest—and sometimes brutal—feedback.
“In a lot of reality shows, the judges are put on a pedestal, whereas in this experiment, when I go at them, they’re likely to come right back, and that’s very compelling.”
John listed MAFS Season 10 groom Harrison Boon as one of the participants who fired back when he was given advice. Harrison was infamous for creating drama amongst the other MAFS participants and ended up having a fiery showdown with his TV wife, Bronte Schofield.
Reflecting on his time as a TV relationship expert, John said that his feedback doesn’t always “land” with the brides and grooms.
“Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t, but you really have a responsibility as an expert to call out bad behaviour and make them accountable.”
“It goes to that whole idea that we’re talking about the unpredictable, unscripted nature of it. We’re sitting there as experts going, ‘What are we going to hear tonight, and how are we going to respond?’. So it’s fantastic to be part of it.”
Married At First Sight 2025 airs on January 27 on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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